Wilbur Ross has reportedly been caught snoozing during Commerce Department meetings

To be fair to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, meetings can be boring.

Ross doesn't hold a lot of meetings with senior staffers, a person familiar with the department told Politico, and the reason is pretty simple. Ross reportedly "tends to fall asleep" during them, which is not the best look in any work environment, let alone a key government agency. That's doubly true if you're the boss.

When Ross does have to attend meetings, the source told Politico that the department is very careful about scheduling them. "There's a small window where he's able to focus and pay attention and not fall asleep," the source said.

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Commerce officials have disputed those statements. Department Press Secretary Kevin Manning called Ross a "tireless worker" who travels often.

Still, some of the agency's top officials are reportedly doing what they can to shield Ross from testifying at congressional oversight hearings, like he did in March about the 2020 U.S. census citizenship question. They probably don't want him dozing off on C-SPAN, though he did stay awake last time.

Those reports were also disputed by the department, however. "He's obviously going to have to testify again," one official said. Read more about the reported disarray in the Commerce Department at Politico.